Nine hikers have safely left Kejimkujik national park after a bit of a scare.

They were airlifted out just after 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning, said Sgt. Alain LeBlanc of the provincial RCMP.

"They were safe," he said. "They were cleared by EHS (paramedics) and are heading back to Halifax."

A Department of Natural Resources helicopter helped rescue the group of nine visitors.

Earlier story

A call came in around 9:30 p.m. Monday night from a group of hikers that were lost. The signal was weak, so it was difficult to get clear information, says Cpl. Scott MacRae of the RCMP, but it sounded like one of the hikers was ill.

RCMP managed to get a rough location of the hikers by pinging the cell phone.

Parks staff spent the night hiking to the spot, about 25 kilometres into the park, and reached the hikers around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. The staff tended to the person who was ill. The hiker's illness it is not believed to be life-threatening.

A Department of Natural Resources helicopter was called in to help bring the hikers out to the Park's entrance.